alain’s dance blog

Read more about Riding to Break the Cycle on the Agents’ blog.

Day 4 was intense. We woke up in the morning to drizzling rain.

So after a wonderful breakfast provided by citizens of Stanwood, we set off in our brightly colored rain gear. I had the full outfit. Rain jacket, rain pants and booties - all from MEC. It kept me relatively dry, although I made extensive use of the vents in my jacket and pants to keep sweat at a minimum. Unlike the riders electing to cycle without rain pants, my feet stayed warm and dry the whole trip; however my legs were damp from sweating, and I think I’d love the invention of waterproof shorts in combination with rain booties sealed to my ankles. I’ve found out that I don’t mind my lower legs wet; however, I prefer dry feet and thighs.

The ride was challenging, with lengthy hills and thrilling downhills. On the second of two consecutive big inclines that day, I gave up halfway and walked. It was disappointing, but at that moment in time, I felt that I had no more juice to pedal and told myself it was okay to admit that to myself. Riders in my pod waited for me at the top, and it was encouraging to have such a positive group cheering you on.

The ride was the longest until now, 74 miles / 118km. All in the pouring rain.

We left at 9 am and arrived in Seattle at 5h45 pm, and to be honest, I was drained at the end. The last bike trail we took coming into Seattle, the Burke-Gilman Trailhead, felt like it was a never-ending road. Partly because our directions indicated 5 miles, but the trail was actually 10 miles long, and each time we stopped people along the way for directions, they told us to keep on going. I now call it the Never-Ending Trail.

And then Emma, Isaac and I went to dance at Burn Blue at Waid’s that night with my friend Phil from Redmond. Needless to say we did not dance much.

It’s the end of Day 3. I’m writing from the United Methodist Church in Stanwood, WA, and ready to sleep!

Our hosts have been amazing up until now. On Day 1, we slept at the Peace Portal Alliance church in White Rock and got free food from friends of GlobalAFC. On Day 2, we stayed at the HUB community bike shop in Bellingham. And today, the United Methodists were kind enough to provide us with shelter and food, and Pastor John even shuttled us to his house so that we could take showers!

Here are a few pictures of the places where we stayed:

As for the cycling, it’s been as expected. As in, people told me it would hurt, and it hurts! My butt hurts, my quadriceps ache, and I’ve had occasional back and knee aches. Thank god for the shammy - without bike shorts, I think I wouldn’t be able to sit on my bike seat for another minute.

Day 1 I rode 40 miles. Day 2 was 32 miles. And Day 3 was our longest so far at 50 miles, and we’ve got 65 lined up tomorrow. We’re slowly easing into the rhythm, and I’m glad it’s planned out this way.

Day 2 drew an unexpected spontaneous dance party inside the bike shop. There will be more footage on the Global Agents for Change website, but here’s a short clip I took of Tomas.

Day 3 was full of flat farmlands, and so drafting came in handy. Drafting while cycling means to use the wind tunnel created by the front rider to save on effort, so those of us who chose to draft were cycling in tight single files along the way.

We encountered lots of roadkill - many birds and even one raccoon along the way - but otherwise, the scenery was amazing. Riding along the coastline, into the forests and down Skagit Valley into Stanwood.

For updates from our team of riders on our 7 week trip down to Mexico, check out our daily blog and weekly video log at Global Agents for Change.

Today I’m feeling… Nervous. Excited. Apprehensive. Inspired. And many many more emotions right now. We are officially leaving tomorrow 9am to start our 3000 km ride from Vancouver, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico.

During the past three days of orientation, we played team-bonding and trust-building games, learned from physiotherapists at Moveo on how to take care of our bodies when biking, got a lesson on bike maintenance and repair from Bikes on the Drive, learned about road safety and regulations from the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, and joined Critical Mass in downtown Vancouver for an empowering ride with hundreds of cyclists - shutting off traffic in the downtown core to promote cycling as an alternative and sustainable replacement to car transportation. These past few days have opened my eyes on biking and I’ve learnt so much! I feel much more prepared for the start of our journey.

Here’s a picture of us at Critical Mass starting from the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Emma Banks with Hugs not Drugs

A picture of us riding on the Vancouver seaside

And here’s a video of the Global Agents for Change during Critical Mass.

After a great weekend of dancing in Seattle at Camp Jitterbug, I’m finally in Vancouver for the beginning of my ride. I met some really great people on the last day who gave me a ride up: Eric and Tim Shaw and Edina Hechanova (Eric and Edina won the Flyweight fast division at Lindy Bout this year). Here’s a picture we took arriving late in Vancouver, the camera on top of Eric’s car.

And here are Eric and Edina, along with Ben and Sheri Yau (behind the camera) while I try the Snatch-Cake from Mike Faltesek and Casey Schneider’s airsteps class at Camp Jitterbug. Both Ben and Eric were so much better than me at this!

I got to spend some time with Eric, Edina and Lucy Faulkner in Vancouver and it was nice to chat about our different dance scenes and about Lindy Hop in general (what else?). I got to hear their perspective of the Pacific Northwest scene.

I also helped out as an extra lead in Eric and Lucy’s classes at Jungle Swing. They’ve got a Lindy U like we do at Cat’s Corner. I wonder who came up with the name first… In any case, they are fantastic teachers, and I hope we’ll see them on the East coast sometime soon.

I’ve plotted our Ride to Break the Cycle trip on Google Maps. We start May 31st in Vancouver and end the trip in Tijuana on July 12.

View Larger Map